Royals drawn at home to Gillingham in Carabao Cup

The Royals have been drawn to face Gillingham at Madejski Stadium in the First Round of the Carabao Cup this season.

Round One ties are scheduled to take place week commencing 7th August 2017.

The Royals last met Gillingham in 2004-5, playing out a goalless draw at Priestfield on New Year's Day. There were four goals between the teams when we met at the Madejski earlier that season though - Steve Coppell's Royals running out 3-1 winners thanks to a Dave Kitson hat-trick.

Reading last lost to the Kent-based side back in April 1999 when Carl Asaba scored against his former employees to deny Reading any share of the spoils.

The two teams last met in the League Cup in 1994, playing a two-legged affair against each other - the Royals won both games thanks to goals from Jeff Hopkins, a Jimmy Quinn brace and Stuart Lovell.

Gillingham narrowly avoided relegation to League Two last season, Adrian Pennock guiding the Gills to safety and a 20th placed finish.

The draw for the competition was streamed live from Bangkok, Thailand at 1pm (UK time) on Friday and the Royals were seeded in the regionalised Round One format.

World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit, Carabao CEO Sathien Setthasit, British Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson and EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey officially unveiled the 35 Round One ties from the home of the competition’s title sponsor, Carabao, our Principal Partner.

And fans were able to watch the draw unfold live on various platforms, including EFL’s new live streaming platform, iFollow, on Facebook via the Carabao Cup and Carabao UK pages and at SkySports.com.

Last season, the Royals began their campaign with a home win over Plymouth Argyle, ahead of victories against MK Dons and Brighton led us to the Emirates for a glamour tie against the Gunners.

Due to the global appeal of the competition, Carabao, the Thai energy drinks brand, became title sponsor to the competition and official EFL partner earlier this year, with the exclusive partnership running until 2020.